Competency 730.2.2: Data Quality Assessment and Integrity – The graduate applies key
concepts and skills related to data quality and integrity and maintains health informatics
standards and organizational policies in healthcare organizations.
Introduction:
Health informatics professionals are responsible for promoting and maintaining data
quality standards. As organizations continue to adopt information systems for managing
health information, the implementation of standardized clinical vocabularies and
terminologies will change how health information is exchanged across the continuum. In
this task, you will locate three journal articles that discuss how the use of standardized
clinical vocabularies and terminologies will support data quality requirements for the
health record and success of health information exchange among organizations and within
geographic regions.
Task:
A. Create an annotated bibliography of three journal articles that meets the following
requirements:
� Journal articles must be from scholarly, professional journals. This includes
professional journals from the medical field, allied health professions, information
technology, and healthcare informatics.
� Journal articles must have been published within the past three years.
B. Discuss in your annotated bibliography (suggested length of two paragraphs per article)
how the articles you selected address data quality.
Below are some points that you could consider in your discussion:
� How data quality is improved by the use of standardized terminologies
� How data quality requirements may be included in organizational policies or processes
� How standardized terminologies impact the way statistical data is gathered
� How standardized terminologies influence clinical documentation and practice
� How movement toward standardized clinical vocabularies and terminologies serves as a
foundation for the National Health Information Network (NHIN)
� Why standardized terminologies are critical to large health information exchanges
C. If you use sources, include all in-text citations and references in APA format.
HEALTH DATA MANAGEMENT 2
Health Data Management
Introduction
Ensuring data quality in a health care institution is paramount. Health professional
informatics play a big role in ensuring that information pertaining to data is safeguarded. Use of
standardized terminologies is proving to be the best way of ensuring data quality. Proper and
quality data is a panacea of provision of better heath services.
Mphatswe, W., Mate, K., Bennett, B., Ngidi, H., Reddy, J., Barker, P., & Rollins, N. (2012).
Improving public health information: a data quality intervention in KwaZulu-Natal, South
Africa, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 90(3):176-182.
Accurate and reliable public health information is essential in monitoring, evaluating and
improving health delivery of health care services and programmes in the organizations.
Therefore, it is important for countries to ensure quality data to meet the United Nations
millennium development goals. In various health care activities such as immunization
programmes, statistics are very crucial in ensuring that good health care is provided. Even
though, quality data is required, it remains a challenge to many health facilities. According to
Mphatswe, Mate, Bennett, Ngidi, Reddy, Barker & Rollins (2012), training of the health
personnel and programme managers in the health facilitation is one of the interventions that can
be used to improve data quality in an organization (p. 176). This training ensures that health
professionals collect information on the patients every time they come to the hospital and it is the
only way that can improve health services that are provided. Many organizations have not put in
place efforts and measures to ensure quality data collection. In a study carried out in South
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Africa about data quality in the prevention of mother to child transmission of human
immunodeficiency virus, which was implemented between 2008 and 2009, data completeness
that is, presence in the system and data accuracy of 10% of their true value was evaluated. The
findings revealed that data accuracy in the information system improved from 37% to 65% while
data completeness improved from 26% to 64% after the intervention (Mphatswe, Mate, Bennett,
Ngidi, Reddy, Barker & Rollins, 2012, p. 182). Hence, it is apparent that with adequate training
of health professionals, information or data quality can be improved and impact positively on the
provision of health facilities to patients.
O’sullivan, T., Billing, N., & Stokes, D. (2011). Just what the doctor ordered: Moving forward
with electronic health records, Nutrition & Dietetics, 68(3):179-184.
According to O’sullivan, Billing & Stokes (2011), ensuring that proper records in health
information is essential in providing better services (p.180). Use of standardized terminologies in
health facilities will help to greater length in ensuring that health records in organization are well
maintained. Australia and New Zealand plans to roll or to establish national electronic health
record system will go to a greater length in promoting provision of better services to the patients.
Electronic records have various advantages especially in the provision of dietary services to the
people. Information systems will help organizations in provision of better services. For example,
cases of multiple testing among the patients will be avoided. Some of the patients may not
remember their date of vaccination and therefore, they may decide to go for second
immunization. These cases will be eliminated with electronic data records. Furthermore, it will
reduce costs on storage and maintenance of paper records hence helping in reducing health care
budgets. Furthermore, standardized records will reduce loss of patient files. Records can be
accessed from various locations and the nutritional or the health status of the patients can be
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monitored helping in enhancing the provision of services. Use of common standardized
terminologies in all clinical communications across various health care helps in standardizing
records and this helps to keep health professionals on the same page. Even though there are some
challenges, using standardized terminologies is essential in ensuring data quality.
Raluca, B., Robin, W., Ian, G., & Alison, S. (2009). XML-based clinical data standardization in
the National health Service Scotland, Informatics in Primary Care, 14 (4):227-233.
Standardization development in the health care system is very crucial in improving the
quality of data. The main reason for adopting standardization is to achieve rapid progress with
the electronic integrated patient care system (Raluca, Robin, Ian & Alison, 2009, p. 227). The
standards that should be developed should be able to meet the present requirements of the system
and should have the potential to evolve over time. Standardizations terminologies are also aimed
at achieving fast system development and the needs of the patients. Standardization
methodologies were also aimed at ensuring that the system worked faster to successfully provide
accurate and complete data concerning the needs of the patients. Other advantages of
standardization are that the needs of specific users can be accommodated into the standards.
This therefore, ensures that information about a specific user or patient is well stored. It is also
very effective in ensuring that information is up to date. However, regardless of these
advantages, standardization requires continuous upgrading and change of the standards when
carrying and parallel synchronicity and standard development. This may lead to problem of
interoperability between various versions of the same standards. Therefore, it is important to
ensure that standard development is carried out with care.
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References
Mphatswe, W., Mate, K., Bennett, B., Ngidi, H., Reddy, J., Barker, P., & Rollins, N.
(2012). Improving public health information: a data quality intervention in KwaZulu-Natal,
South Africa, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 90(3):176-182.
A
forward with electronic health records, Nutrition & Dietetics, 68(3):179-184.
Raluca, B., Robin, W., Ian, G., & Alison, S. (2009). XML-based clinical data
standardization in the National health Service Scotland, Informatics in Primary Care, 14 (4):227-
233.